NZers think inequality is far worse than it really is

A new report shows New Zealanders have the wrong idea about the world around us.

The Perils of Perception survey shows New Zealand is the most ignorant developed country, with most people misunderstanding the facts that make up our country’s society.

The Ipsos-MORI poll showed inequality was one area where New Zealanders got it wrong. Kiwis hugely overestimated the proportion of wealth owned by the wealthiest 1 per cent in the country.

The average response on the percentage of wealth controlled by the wealthiest 1 per cent in New Zealand was 50 per cent. In reality, the wealthiest New Zealanders hold 18 per cent of the country’s wealth.

So thanks to the non stop coverage in the media, NZers think that 1% of NZers own 50% of the wealth – three times the actual level.

Most of the other countries believed the wealthiest 1 per cent should own a smaller proportion of the country’s wealth than they currently do, but New Zealand responded was opposite.

In contrast, when asked what percentage of wealth the wealthiest New Zealanders should hold, Kiwis answered 27 per cent, which is nearly 10 percentage points more than what they control currently.

Hilarious – the scare campaign has been so successful, that Kiwis think the top 1% should hold more wealth than they actually do!!!

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Comments (19)

box345

Now surely, this makes it timely to start dispelling the ugly myth that we don’t look after poor people in this country.
Well actually we don’t look after poor people — because there are none left to look after. We are actually one of the few countries on the planet to have eliminated all poverty. If only we had the pride to actually say it.

The Perils of Perception survey shows New Zealand is the most ignorant developed country, with most people misunderstanding the facts that make up our country’s society.

Including who ever wrote the survey .
It seems to base our religious affiliation on the outdated 2006 census figure.
This has changed with the 2013 census giving far less for christian and far more with no religious affiliation to the extent that if the trend has continued we are probably closer in 2015 to their wrong answer than what they maintain is right.

Igotta Numbum

We are often most incorrect on factors that are widely discussed in the media or highlighted as challenges facing societies, such as the proportion of young adults still living at home, immigration and wealth inequality.

That’s because, more often than not, the media put their own slant on everything they report to try and make things look worse than they actually are…. worst offenders: Katie Bradford, Andrea Vance, Corin Dann

reversespin

This echoes the ol’ child poverty metric. Y’know, the one that assumes a kid is living in poverty if they have less than x% of the median income (or whatever it is.) By which the only way to not have child poverty is to have almost communist levels of income equality. That metric and methodology becoming broadly accepted in NZ is an absolute shocker and will actually distract from genuine and meaningful efforts to reduce child poverty.

That being said, the Gini Coefficient for NZ is pretty high, tbh. Higher than most baby-boomers who grew up in ‘egalitarian NZ’ would assume.

cmm

That’s what we get from a media set on delivering an ideology rather than on informing the public.

There is a really good reason the media is given various safeguards (freedom of the press, allowed to withhold names of informants, …) – it is because the media is supposed to inform, ie give an unbiassed and balanced account of what is really happening so that people can act and vote with a full appreciation for what is going on.

When the media are ideologically driven they sow disinformation and no longer deserve those protections. They are no longer the “eyes and ears” of the people. Instead they are just propaganda machines that are trying to push an agenda.

Albert_Ross

The Dom Post gets its reporting on this point completely wrong, asserting that the survey shows that NZ think wealth is distributed more evenly than it actually is. They have since published several comments from readers pointing out their error, but they haven’t corrected the error.

Fentex

Is that the poll I saw hosted on-line in a throw-away Have A Go at this poll manner? I wonder how accurate such are.

Seeing that statement New Zealand is the most ignorant developed country, which I thought was a long bow to pull from one polls results from within NZ, made me wonder when NZ started being called “developed” for I suddenly recalled how in the 1980’s people made jokes about us being third world because by a popular definition (proportion of income derived from primary produce) we technically were and received certain U.N sanctioned Third world privileges.

I don’t know if I recall that right, but anyway, I did a little research and came across what I thought was a cute joke…

Someone’s changed NZ’s flag in Wikipedia’s resources for use as icons on charts…

Odakyu-sen

burt

dime hits the nail on the head, the people who have over egged the pudding rely on people being misinformed to get voted into power. Hell, they even tell voters their ideology is good for NZ when it hasn’t created a stable sustainable economy in over 60 years.

Longknives

Really? And here was me planning to stay home from the work Christmas Party this year as Sue Bradford made me feel so guilty for being a ‘Rich Prick’ who parties while all our children are starving! Apparently…

Doggie

This tells me that the left with media help have been very successful in giving a perception that isn’t true. Regretfully this perception will never be reversed as you never see anyone protesting because things are positive or the media questioning the claims of the left to give a balanced view.